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I’m a big fan of the show/movie/book Friday Night Lights, and it was definitely an inspiration to me in the conception of this project. I don’t know if I expected to find Ratliff stadium and 20,000 fans in the middle of Van Nuys, but it’s been interesting to see just how different things are at Birmingham than the football-crazed world of West Texas Buzz Bissinger discovered in FNL.

I asked a couple of kids who were walking by the field the other day if they were excited about Friday. By the confused looks on their faces, I could tell they had no idea what I was talking about.

“What’s Friday?” one of the girls said. “You mean like, the weekend?”

“No, the City championship game at the Coliseum,” I explained.

“Oh, yeah. That’s cool. Who are they playing?” she asked.

“Carson,” I said.

“Oh, cool,” she said.

I relayed this conversation to senior defensive back Evan Jenkins, who has family in Texas and a cousin who plays at Oklahoma state.

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “The more we win, the less people here care. They think it’s easy for us. But they don’t even know how much goes into it. That’s OK though. We don’t let it bother us.”

Then I asked how different it was from the games he’d been to in Texas.

“It’s totally different there. The locker rooms are like college locker rooms. They’ve got your name on your locker, your uniform is all hung up in there, your cleats are set out. The seniors have their own seperate locker room. There are tons of fans at every game. It’s crazy.”

This isn’t to say that there’s a complete lack of fan support for the Patriots. Actually, Birmingham’s sidelines and stands are almost always more full than their opponents. And I’ve come to know and respect a large group of support staff and administrators who are at every game, cheering for the team. But it’s very clear this is LA, not Odessa, Texas.

Even if Birmingham wins the City Section title, it’ll be hard to convince the 10 section commissioners who will vote on the Division I bowl game representative. The fact remains, Birmingham lost to Crespi, while Corona Centennial beat the Celts. The Patriots best argument is that they have three very impressive wins over Long Beach Poly, Valencia and Notre Dame and this point, as articulated by defensive end Malik Jackson:

“I just feel like there’s never going to be another team from the Valley or the City like us,” Jackson said.

LA Channel 36 will broadcast Friday’s game on a tape-delayed basis, at 11 p.m. Randy Rosenbloom and Dave Marcus on the call. It will also air Saturday at 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Later in the weekend, it will air on KLCS and be available on vootage.com

Also for those with a computer and internet access: www.KBCsports.com will have a live broadcast of the game. Matthew Flores on the call.

Usually, the Birmingham coaching staff does a ton of scouting before each game, then meets with the players to go over the game plan. One player already knows what they’re going to say. Tight end Mychal Rivera, who has verbally committed to Oregon, is something of an internet sleuth.

According to teammates, Rivera is a bit of a recruiting newshound. He knows all the top players, where they’re going, where they are ranked. He even pays attention to the strengths and weaknesses listed by the scouting services on their profiles.

Wow. Just wow. I went out to practice today and hardly recognized a bunch of the guys. TJ Rosas, Carlos Escobar, Cory Fields and Jake Granitz had bleached their hair bright orange. Over the next few days, most of the rest of the team will do the same.

Apparently, the team did it last year before the City championship game and it worked out pretty well as Birmingham walloped San Pedro. Judging from what I saw today, it might not be a look they’ll keep long after the game.

I had a long conversation with Milton Knox last night, regarding UCLA’s decision to fire football coach Karl Dorrell last night. Milton was pretty disappointed, because he’d built a strong personal relationship with the coach and was looking forward to playing for him. Milton said coach Dorrell called him about once a week and they’d talk for 10-15 minutes at a time.

“Sometimes it was about football, sometimes it was about family,” Knox said. “Being the head coach of a major university like UCLA, he’s someone you could look up to. It was cool to see a black man in that position. I wish there were more of them.”

The one conversation they had that seemed to resonate with Milton, was when Dorrell called the week of the Cleveland game. It wasn’t big game by any means. Birmingham won 82-0. But Dorrell called and asked about Cleveland and how the team was preparing for the game.

“I just felt like he wanted me to be a successful person, not just a successful football player,” Knox said.

Expect this to be the first of many for Birmingham’s talented junior wide receiver, but Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis sure knows how to put a personal touch on things. Weis called Flournoy directly today and offered him a scholarship.

EDIT: Apparently, Weis didn’t call Flournoy directly. De’Von called a Notre Dame recruiter, then Weis got on the phone and offered the scholarship. I heard the story second-hand at first, but De’Von wanted to set the record straight.

I’m not sure if this story on senior DB Greg Burgess made it onto the internet, so I thought I’d post it here:

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

You know something’s up when Greg Burgess is quiet. He’s just that kind of kid. Always talking, joking, laughing or mixing it up with teammates, opposing wide receivers or anyone within earshot. But this week, Birmingham’s top cover corner has been quiet. Real quiet.

The Patriots are hosting his former school, Crenshaw, in the semifinals tonight. And if that wasn’t enough, Burgess’ cousin is Crenshaw’s top wide receiver, Kemonte Bateman so he should be matched up with him most of the night.

“I’ve been real mellow and laid back this week,” Burgess said. “All those guys at Crenshaw are still my boys. I hand out with them every weekend. But I’ve got to stay mellow. I can’t do anything stupid. I can’t get too hyped.”

Burgess transferred from Crenshaw to Birmingham after last year. He’d been an All-City defensive back, but off the field, he’d started running with the wrong group of friends and his parents felt he needed a fresh start, at new school.

Burgess didn’t want to leave at first, but has come to realize the change was for the best.

“I needed a fresh start and I got that here,” Burgess said. “Everything here is different. But it’s been my best year, in school and in football.”

This week, Burgess learned he’d scored over 1,500 on the SAT test, more than enough to qualify for college. He said he’s been contacted by several schools –Idaho, San Diego State, San Jose State, Fresno State and Arizona — but the schools told him they were waiting on his test scores before they offered him a scholarship.

Birmingham defensive coordinator Jim Rose said Burgess has “the quickest hips of any defensive back I’ve ever coached” and should definitely be a Division I player, despite his 5-foot-9 frame.

“He’s a true cover corner and guys like that are hard to find,” Rose said.

Friday night, he’ll draw the most difficult match-up of his career. Bateman and his teammate Clint Floyd have verbally committed to Arizona State.

“Kemonte and I have been playing against each other since we were five years old,” Burgess said. “We’ve known each other since we were three weeks old. … And I know he’s going to line up against me.”